The Ideology of Equality

It has been interesting to watch the ideology of equality take hold over the last couple of years. Occupy Wall Street and their cries against “the 1%” were part of this movement. Aside from the street theater level of the Occupy movement, the topic of inequality is having more and more media coverage devoted to it.


The evolution of the fixation on equality starts with the concept of a social safety net (unemployment insurance, disability programs), progresses on to socialist concepts like a guaranteed minimum income, or extensive government services (free child care, government paid health care), and in the latest incarnation, has proceeded on to attacking higher incomes themselves.

After all, in a country where 70% of adults are overweight to obese, it is hard to argue that there is a true problem with hunger. When 99% of households have televisions, and over 90% have air conditioning and cell phones, it shifts the definition of poverty. So now the problem isn’t the lack of food, clothing, or shelter. Now the problem shifts to the supposition that some people have too much money; more than their fair share.

Personally, I don’t worry that 1% of the households in this country hold 40% of the wealth. Instead, I worry a lot about whether I will have enough wealth to retire when I choose to. Since I don’t get a lot of transfer payments from the government, higher taxes in exchange for more government services does nothing for me. Mostly I would like the government to leave me alone.